Well it came down to watching The Wrestling show or the American Pickers. So I flipped back and forth for a little while and though I started to think Frank kind of reminds me of "Mad Dog Vachon", I went ahead and switched to wrestling when the guy with the Model T started telling the two from Iowa that Henry Ford was thrifty and used the wood for the crates that the parts were shipped in for floor boards in his cars.

Hi, we get them and cash cowboys over here in Australia and now there are antique dealers calling them selves Australian pickers, I was talking to one guy at a boot sale who said he had registered the name here but I have seen two other dealers with the same name in the wanted adds in the rural papers, I told him he was forty years to late as most antique car collectors have been doing that at swap meets. I can not see how they can make a profit on the things they buy after driving across the US or Canada with the price of fuel, motels and food, like how far is a $10 profit going to get you on some items and you would need a lot of big items to keep going as well as pay for the sex pot in the office.. Ray

Locations are checked out and picked items are found before filming begins. If "you got nutthin'" you're not making the show. Ever notice on Pawn Stars when ever their discussing an item the store's empty or near empty? You can't get near that place and the guy's can't work the counters anymore.

I've actually been to that house with the model t before. I got a kick out of Mike & Frank saying that they were "free styling" in upstate New York and decided to just try driving down that street and see what they could find. No way they could have ever found that house by "chance" - Good entertainment however....

Jay, I stopped at Jimmy Krehbiel's house after school and he turned on the TV and showed me that test pattern. The programming didn't start until 6:00 PM. On Thursday nights I used to walk two blocks to his house to watch The Lone Ranger.

You're saying they made crates out of tongue and groove boards in order to meet Henry's requirements? Or did they have some kind of 4 or 5 head shaper that they ran the wood through... But than machining the wood to make tongue and groove is going to add cost to the product. So I guess he must have had his crates made out of tongue and groove material, but wouldn't that add cost to the crates. I guess it's a question that will haunt us for a long time. Don are your boards tongue and groove? Can you show a picture of that stamp? It would eliminate a lot of repeated discussion about this subject. I looked for stamps like it on my floorboards but there aren't any markings at all. I'm pretty sure mine are original. Nothing else on the car leads me to believe anything has been changed on it since it was built originally. Dang it now you've got my curiosity going.

Mike, everybody knows the floorboard thing actually started with the Model K. You see, it was an unprofitable car and Henry figured the only way that he could come out on it was to reduce costs by making the shippers provide shipping crates that could double as floorboard and firewalls. I'm sure Royce has posted the documentation for this in one of his rants against Rob.

If I ever see that danged Mercedes 'Antique Archeology' van coming down my drive, I'll be out on the porch with a shotgun. Two of the most annoying characters on TV will put it in reverse and scat - but quick. If I never hear, "Theres just not enough meat on the bone" or "I bought it from that widder for only $85 and I know I can get $450" - again . . . . it'll be too soon. Uncle Jack - whatdoyamean by "Mike and Frank beat the crap out of all this early ford stuff"?

Well that show is rigged,fake and a joke and has ruined the hobby of collecting antiques because now everybody with that dang cable tv channel thinks their junk is worth as much as what they saw on tv. My uncle has that cable tv and I saw some of the stupid stuff,Call of the wild man,some idiot going around catching damn big turtle looking things out of ponds and such.

I am like you George,dont let me catch that van comeing in my driveway either.Dont care for the crap. And there is another show on that channel,Restore something or other,that is also ridiculas. Some fellow brought them a Bantum tractor to restore and they gave him a Stupid estimate and the nutcase let them do it! Now everybody thinks it cost that much to restore something they will just haul it to the scrap.Saw a Jim dandy tractor on a truck load the other day.Couldnt follow the fellow or I woulda missed a appointment.

Mack, I decided long ago I'd let those two idiots up the driveway. I really can't stand the little short fat guy with the beard (Frank). And I'd really like to tell that sawed off little piece of dogcrap what I really think of him. I've got the cable TV because I really enjoy the Speed and the military channels. The History, Natgeo and Discovery channels use to have some good documentaries but now they're all crap. Now tonight at 8:00 there's going to be a show on PBS about Henry Ford I've never seen before and I'm interested in watching it.

Speaking of the floor boards, I can just see running used lumber through the machines to cut the tounge and grooves and hittin a nail that someone missed pulling. You have to remember it takes time to tear old crates down. I don't think Ford would have ever spent that money. KB

I ran across Mike Wolf (the skinny guy)in Iowa a year before the show. He was only buying old bicycles & old cycles & their parts back then and he sold a lot of his wares on eBay and local antique bike shows/markets.

The show is totally scripted, all fake and the prices they pay for some of the stuff is just plain ridiculous. If you look in the background of the Iowa based shop when the 'tattooed lady' ( a former roller derby star) is on the phone talking to them you will see nearly everything they bought in previous episodes still sitting on shelves or on display. They would be broke in two weeks paying the prices they do for the random junk like an old Singer sewing machine table. Heck you can still find those at yard sales 50 miles from any city for $25.00 or less (not $150.00)!

I've had the name of that show thrown in my face just about every second farm or storage shed I go visit since that show came on. I hate the name 'Picker' too. A picker was a field worker who picked; strawberries, apples, pears or cherries in my neck of the woods. I don't mean I hate the fruit pickers, I did it myself as a school kid to earn a couple bucks and we all hated the back breaking work for the lousy pay.

And its true, now people who don't know what they have to sell, think their rusted junk is worth its weight in gold because of that stupid TV show. Jimmy